Police forces left without food and water on BRICS duty, 1 constable collapsed

Goa police constable Jeevan Gaonkar, deployed for the BRICS summit, collapsed while on duty and fell unconscious. He was rushed to the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC), Bambolim, where he is presently battling for his life in the ICU. Due to this, there are fears among the Police that they may be starved and left without a break even before day 1 of the Summit. The incident has highlighted the lack of facilities to the Police forces posted on duty for the BRICS 2016 Summit.

[su_expand more_text=”READ MORE” less_text=” ” height=”0″ hide_less=”yes” link_style=”button” link_align=”center”]According to the sources, chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar said the constable was recovering He refuted allegations that police personnel is delegated long work hours without a break. Goa Human Rights Commission had asked Goa Police to provide basic facilities to its staff while on duty. Despite this, the department has again been caught on the wrong foot. A source added, Police on duty said that there were two other incidents on Wednesday and Thursday where lady police officers collapsed while on day-long duty.

An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) alleged that the force survives on the water, soft drinks, and snacks given by members of the public. “Motorcade rehearsals begin at 4pm every day, but we have been kept on our feet for 10 consecutive hours for six days,” the ASI said, adding that the situation of women police officers is even worse as they have to restrict water intake due to poor toilet facilities.

Advocate Aires Rodrigues, who had approached the Human Rights Commission over the same issue, said he spoke to DGP Muktesh Chander on Wednesday morning and Chander assured that everything would be taken care off. “But, with an incident of a constable suffering a heart attack, I will move the court on Friday,” Rodrigues said.

According to another Police staff, On Thursday, police on duty were provided with substandard meal packets at 3 pm whereas many of the staff did not receive any food,” About complaints of food that will be looked into.” Said Laxmikant Parsekar.